SDG5 – Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality

We are living in a country that has experienced three decades of war, where no one has equal rights and where women are considered slaves for men. They don’t have the right to raise their voice, or to work shoulder-to-shoulder with men for their community, their people and for peace. Their only rights are to sit in their homes, do house chores, keep their mouths shut all of the time, and tolerate all the bad things that happen to them; if not then they will be beaten by men or will be killed.

The world has witnessed what happened to Farkhunda; a talented young woman who was passionate about her country and dreamt to take action for peace, but she was shut out. No, she was cruelty killed by hundreds of men on the street, her body run over, dragged, and burned. While we all know of things that men can do well, women can also do same and even better than men. If men are dreaming bigger, women should do so. If men are working for their society, women should accompany them. Women should be involved in big decisions, because they have that talent!

This is why the HELA (Hope for Education and Leadership in Afghanistan) organization is focusing on SDG5 – Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality. We are promoting Women through MUN, to become the future leaders of Afghanistan, to be able to raise their voice in front of thousands of people without any fear, and to be able to find solutions for the tough situations of their country. We are also promoting women through another project of ours, which aims to create the future business women of Afghanistan. And the reason that we do this is: because we believe that what women could do, sometimes even men can’t.

So, last but not least, I would say this: this world is incomplete without consideration for every single person. But look at us- we are not considering an entire gender. So we can’t say that we are complete; we would- and can only- be complete if we give equal rights to women!